Search Results
Journal Article
The LIBOR-OIS spread as a summary indicator
Working Paper
Where's the smoking gun? a study of underwriting standards for US subprime mortgages
The dominant explanation for the meltdown in the US subprime mortgage market is that lending standards dramatically weakened after 2004. Using loan-level data, we examine underwriting standards on the subprime mortgage originations from 1998 to 2007. Contrary to popular belief, we find no evidence of a dramatic weakening of lending standards within the subprime market. We show that while underwriting may have weakened along some dimensions, it certainly strengthened along others. Our results indicate that (average) observable risk characteristics on mortgages underwritten post-2004 would have ...
Journal Article
Mortgage applicants turn to credit unions after the crisis
Journal Article
Flight to safety and U.S. Treasury securities
As in most crises, investors turned to Treasuries in droves over the past couple of years, even as yields declined.
Journal Article
Why Do Net Interest Margins Behave Differently across Banks as Interest Rates Rise?
Rising interest rates can influence bank profitability positively (by increasing payments from those with floating-rate debt) or negatively (by forcing banks to offer higher returns to their depositors). Although most banks became more profitable as the Federal Reserve raised rates in 2022–23, a smaller group of banks saw consistent decreases in their net interest margins (NIMs). Understanding why these banks’ NIMs declined may provide useful insight to policymakers concerned with vulnerabilities in the banking system.Brendan Laliberte and Rajdeep Sengupta explore the differences in bank ...
Journal Article
Why HARM the subprime borrower?
Hybrid adjustable rate mortgages (HARM) were designed to be refinanced by the reset date, when the interest rate would jump. These mortgages worked out well for many people who were credit risks - but only as long as housing prices continued to rise.
Journal Article
Bank Profitability Rebounds despite Compressed Interest Margins
While traditional sources of U.S. bank revenues have struggled during the pandemic, overall bank profitability has soared. This unusual deviation is largely explained by a substantial decline in banks’ loan loss provisions. Extraordinary policy measures undertaken by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury aided a rebound in financial market conditions and, in turn, reduced projected loan losses. However, this effect is likely to be transitory, suggesting an uncertain future for bank profitability.
Working Paper
Credit scoring and loan default
This paper introduces a measure of credit score performance that abstracts from the influence of ?situational factors.? Using this measure, we study the role and effectiveness of credit scoring that underlied subprime securities during the mortgage boom of 2000-2006. Parametric and nonparametric measures of credit score performance reveal different trends, especially on originations with low credit scores. The paper demonstrates an increasing trend of reliance on credit scoring not only as a measure of credit risk but also as a means to offset other riskier attributes of the origination. This ...
Journal Article
Is Bank Capital Regulation Driving Continued Use of the Overnight Reverse Repurchase (ON RRP) Facility?
Use of the Federal Reserve’s overnight reverse repurchase (ON RRP) facility rose in 2022, coinciding with deposit outflows and declining reserves at commercial banks. A popular narrative suggests that regulatory capital requirements discouraged bank deposit-taking, driving up ON RRP use. However, this story neglects important contributors to the ON RRP’s surge. We find that limited money market investment opportunities, policy uncertainty, and administrative changes likely explain increased ON RRP activity.
Journal Article
The Effect of risk and organizational structures on bank capital ratios
Capital holdings can help banks absorb unexpected losses and protect the financial system from costs associated with bank failures. As a result, a bank's capital ratio?the ratio of equity capital to total assets?can serve as an important benchmark for financial stability. Although banks are required to hold sufficient capital to meet regulatory minimums, they may have mixed incentives to hold capital in excess of these requirements. Rajdeep Sengupta and Eric W. Hogue examine how a bank's riskiness and organizational structure affect its capital holdings. They find that banks with higher risk ...